Sam Woo BBQ – And a “Fish” Story

I’m pretty sure that most San Diego Readers of this blog know of this location of Sam Woo Ba-Bee-Que! Over the years I’ve eaten at in at least 7 different locations of Sam Woo BBQ’s, located everywhere from San Gabriel to Las Vegas, often times next to or very close to an outlet of 99 Ranch Market, as is this location on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard. Since our favorite inexpensive Guangdong style restaurant Golden City closed about 2 years ago, about the only replacement we could find was Sam Woo.

Sam Woo BBQ’s have a reputation of decent quality dishes at a good price. In other words, you get your money’s worth here! Sam Woo BBQ’s also have another reputation, that of very abrupt, impatient, and sometimes downright rude service. Also, no matter how slow or busy, there’s always a "divey" feel to Sam Woo’s, dishes left to clean up, food stains on the table, etc. To their defense the Servers bust their butt here.

This location of Sam Woo features a Take-out section with the requisite hanging Roast Pork, Roast Duck, and Hot Table items on one side, and a small, pedestrian sit down restaurant on the other.

On this evening, the Missus was not feeling too well, and she wanted some of her comfort food – Jook. She ordered the Rice Porridge with Preserved Egg and Pork($3.75):

She got a large steaming bowl of fairly "loose" jook; just the way she likes it. She doesn’t care much for the thick, corn-starchy versions that many Cantonese Restaurants serve. There were large chunks of preserved egg and a good amount of tasty shredded pork; I know because I tasted some. This was actually more than enough for her, she couldn’t even finish this.

I ordered the Noodle Soup with 3 Roasted Meats ($5.75):

Otherwise known as my "Oink-Quack-Puck" noodle. This is a large bowl of flavorful broth, won tons, napa cabbage, and my favorite thin egg noodles. The broth had started to absorb the flavor of the roasted duck, chicken, and BBQ Pork. Can you say…Delici-yoso???? Good to the last drop!

A few days later before shopping at 99 Ranch Market we stopped by and decided to have a bite. We found out that Sam Woo’s has a Breakfast menu from 9am-11am during the week, and 8am-11am weekends. Most items are $2.95, including the same sized bowl of porridge pictured above.

I had the Stewed Beef on Noodle($2.95):

This was kind of a strange dish, and not quite what I expected. It was basically a de-constructed Beef Egg Noodle Soup. The beef was ok, Niu Rou Mein – spicy beef noodle soup is one of my favorite dishes, and these pieces of beef were similiar to those used in that dish; tender though seasoned with a bit too much anise, and also on the sweeter side. I really struggled trying to eat this, pulling up the noodles trying to dip in the broth and so on. Also, a strange thing happened after eating this; my hands and feet started to swell – not a good sign.

Fast forward a week, and for some strange reason I was craving gloppy-gooey Clams in Black Bean sauce. So we headed back up to Sam Woo’s again. This time we ordered off of the lunch menu; about 3 pages long, with an additional sheet of "specials", there was alot to choose from, and most dishes were between $4.50-$5.50 and lncluded a soup(terrible) and rice (starch mmmm….).

We started with Szechuan Shrimp ($4.50):

More like a sweet sour shrimp dish, it wasn’t very spicy, though the shrimp were plump, tasty and cooked well, nothing worse than over-cooked rubbery shrimp. We actually loved the onions in this dish; mixed with the sauce they were pungent and sweet.

Rock Cod Filet with Black Bean Sauce($4.50):

The fish filets were soft and tender, the green and red bell peppers were cooked through, but still tender, all put together in a gloppy, gooey, simple black bean based sauce, which tasted good on our rice.

The Clams with Black Bean Sauce ($5.50):

There was a generous portion of plump, juicy, slightly briney clams in the same black bean sauce as the rock cod. I was really surprised at the quality of the clams in this 5 dollar dish!

We basically "blew through" everything, including two pots of tea. Not bad for $15, huh?

Sam Woo BBQ Restaurant
7330 Clairemont Mesa Blvd Ste 103
San Diego, CA 92111

And how does a "fish" story tie into this? Well……

A few years ago I was watching a Chargers football game and the Missus happened to walk by…..

“Oh, it’s Jack Murphy Stadium”

“Well yeah, except now it’s called Qualcomm Stadium”

“How’s that?”

“I think nowadays the stadium sells naming rights, and some company purchases them”

She pauses, then adds, “Oh, like Sea World?”

Ok, now I’m totally confused, and scratching my head. “What do you mean, Sea World?”

As she turns to walk away and out of the living room, “Yeah, the whale….”

Now I’m hooked, I have to find out what Sea World has to do with all of this, so I follow her down the hall….

“Can you tell me what you mean by the the whale?”

“Yeah, Sam Woo, the Killer whale….”

I just totally lose it, and I’m laughing so hard my sides hurt…

“No, it’s Sha-mu the Killer Whale”

“Yeah, that’s what I said Sam-Woo the Killer Whale!”

“No it’s spelled S-H-A-M-U”

“Oh, I thought that maybe Sea World had sold naming rights to the Whale and Sam Woo purchased it…..”

“How long have you thought this?”

“Ever since I first heard of the Whale” Seems that the Missus had thought Shamu was named Sam Woo for years……….

To this day, every time we see a Sea World commercial with Shamu, we both look at each other and go, “Hey look, it’s Sam Woo the Killer Whale!!!”

And that’s why I love Her so……

Hope everyone is having a great week!